Only
by Serias
Summary: After Alpha escapes, Adelle decides she must go to drastic measures to stop him.She enlists the help of her newest employee and gives him an unlikely partner.She decides to give Echo back all the personalities she's ever had,including Caroline Paul/Echo.
1. Prologue

He had taken a job for a reason. To save the girl. And he had saved one at least, Mellie...or rather Madeline. She was free and all parts of her contract over, which felt as a sad and uneven penance for the crimes he had committed against her. But what else could he do? Even when he had the knowledge that she was a doll, he had no choice but to push the thought from his mind.

There was one thought he could never push from his mind, no matter how hard he tried.

Caroline.

No, not Caroline. She wasn't Caroline anymore, now she was Echo. He had built her up in his mind over time, turning her into a fantasy of what he wanted her to be, and maybe things she actually was. Maybe he couldn't free her of this, not yet, or even bring down the Dollhouse. But maybe afterwards, they could change it all together.

His new position granted him acess to her file, as well as the files of others. But hers was the one he spent the most time with, learning what was fact and went along with his imaginary verison, and what was too far off base. She was rebellious, she was a fighter with a serious heart.

But that heart had been broken, and it seemed she blamed herself completely for the death of her then boyfriend. He had done something similiar when he found his marriage in shambles, figured it was completely his own fault and there was no chance to savalge his relationship.

A week later he was assigned the Dollhouse, and it gained his entire devotion. That was why things always fell to the side, he would find something and become so focused, everything else seemed to matter less and less as days went by. But this time, it was Caroline. Or Echo. He wasn't sure anymore, just that she was different than the other actives, even Dewitt had noticed.

Something deep within him, told him Caroline, was the key. The key to ending all of this.

He just had to figure out what that meant.

The moment after he saved her, or at least the wedge containing her life, her memories was one he reflected on often. She had climbed the stairs, and he had returned it to her, as she beamed up at him with gratitude.

He thought that was the moment. The fairytale moment where she would have clarity, that the soul hiding beneath all the imprints would find it's way to the surface, and see him as her savior.

"Caroline? Is that you?" He had asked her.

Her eyes had looked searching for a moment, but then she shook her head, offering a hand out to take the wedge he had been holding. "No, that's Caroline. I'm Echo....All 38 of me. And you....You're Paul."

At first he wasn't sure how Echo could be aware of his name, but she quickly began to speak again, to make up for the confusion.

"All of the imprints, Alpha downloaded them. I have 39 sets of memories in my head, and not one of them is Caroline. But I did get to speak with her briefly, before that bastard killed her....Well, killed the body he imprinted her on..." When he still looked unsure of what she was speaking of, she continued. "I remember you from when someone fiddled with the imprint, when I kicked your ass."

She let a small smirk light her full lips at the mention of that, almost as if she were flirting with him. He had made her into this epic, princess like figure in his mind, and now he was finally getting his moment face to face. He wasn't sure if he was elated, or disappointed.

"I was going easy on you." He had smiled back, shrugging.

Before it could continue further, Boyd found them and interrupted them, quickly whisking Echo away to one of their black vans. It was that moment he had decided, he had to pursue this further. Maybe she was still just a glimmer of light in his starless sky, but she was his glimmer.


	2. Chapter 1

He was in Dewitt's office, patiently awaiting while the British woman finished up so sort of spat with Topher. When she was finished, she would inform him of his first assignment with the Dollhouse, something he was both anticipating and dreading. He blamed those feelings for the pain in his stomach, but it could just as well be due to the fact he hadn't eaten in awhile.

After she asaged the situation with Topher, she returned to her place at her desk. He was quickly thinking it was more like a thrown for her than anything else, a place where she ruled the house as if it were her kingdom. Adelle Dewitt practically screamed regal in her every mannerism and gesture, and she had managed to find a job that served those mannerisms.

"Mr. Ballard, after some consideration by myself and Mr. Langton, we've decided it best you attempt to remedy the Alpha situation for us. It seems allowing him to run amuck has only managed to cause us major problems."

Paul looked at her, his browns knitting together skeptically. "No offense, Ms. Dewitt, but you said it yourself, Alpha's a genius, with various skill sets. He's evaded everyone you've sent after him so far, I'm not sure I could capture him alone. He's the big reason I found you all in the first place."

Adelle smiled, in such a way that she seemed a little pertrubed, but looked utterly pleasant at the same time.

"Because you're not capturing him alone, Mr. Ballard. Because of Echo's excellent performance after her numerous imprints, we decided it best she come along as your partner. Topher and I were just dicussing whether or not he can manage to make one imprint the Primary, and therefore that personality will be the one that leads, but she will have full access to the other imprints. A worthy adversary of Alpha, as she was before."

He did is best not to show how he uncomfortably shifted in his seat at this supposed good news. The immediate worry hit him that he might be more concerned with her safety, and the possibility of saving her than with the acquistion of Alpha. It was only the fact that Alpha was obsessed with Echo, and she had managed to escape, that would keep him from doing so. He had seen into the sick minds of many criminals in his time at the FBI, and very few let their victims escape without any repercussions.

"I'll do this for you, but on one condition." He stated.

Adelle's perfectly shaped brow quirked upwards, her lips pursing together subtly. "It hadn't be anything to extensive, Mr. Ballard. This is likely the last bit of bargaining you have to do."

"Make Caroline the Primary imprint."

Adelle's eyes lifted and looked beyond him, and he didn't have to look over his shoulder to know that Mr. Langton had come in and was standing behind him. "What is your opinion on this, Mr. Langton?"

It was then Paul finally looked behind him, hoping to gage the reaction of Echo's former handler. The older man looked incredibly perplexed, as if someone had just asked him for his daughter's hand in marriage and he didn't entirely approve of the young man. Deep down, he figured that Langton had some justification for his actions, morally. He did seem attached to Echo, though Paul still hadn't figured out what the nature of that was.

"Well, her display when she was given her basic personality back, as well as the fact that it seemed she encouraged Echo to stop Alpha during the brief imprint on that kidnapped woman, would lead me to believe maybe that could be the best option. Put the woman back in the driver's seat to her own body, she might surprise you, Ms. Dewitt."

"She has yet to disappoint." Adelle replied to his logic, nodding her head in agreeance. Paul knew she was well aware of the fact that Caroline was a risk. But both Paul and Caroline allowed their own moral compasses to dictate the paths of their lives, and a threat such as Alpha would take precedence over things that might cause Adelle to worry. Flight risks, being the main issue.

"I'll call Topher, and inform him of the change. I suggest you head down there, and greet her as she wakes from the process, Mr. Ballard." She picked up the phone, dialing the extension as his dismissal.

"Thank you, Ms. Dewitt." He said softly, before heading down to the room where Topher was. And more importantly, Caroline.

It seemed almost anticlimatic, they had met before, at least he had met her body. But now he was meeting the real thing, the mythical Caroline. He could see the flashes of light against the opaque windows of the room that the chair was in, and the ten steps it took to close the distance seemed like the longest ones he had ever taken in his life.

He entered the room, just as the imprint finished. He had seen the typical procedure, when dolls awoke they went immediately into their prescribed personality without so much as a blink. But Caroline, was different. She took a few shuddered breathes, looking around disoriented, likely by both what was going on in her head and the fact that she was in control again. Her gaze drifted from Topher to Paul, her eyes squinting slighty, as if trying to place a memory.

"Paul?" she questioned.

He took a step forward, his face becoming tense. His intial reaction was that Topher had used some of Mellie's memories or something, and added into the mix. But the genius standing next to him must have known that would be his first assumption. Topher threw up his hands, proclaiming his innocence in the gesture.

"Wasn't me."

Paul looked back to Caroline, his face a mess of sudden confusion. She didn't quite smile, but she seemed somewhat relieved to see him, none the less.

"I...I remember. You've saved me twice so far...Well, you tried to save my body and get me out of the Dollhouse, and ended up getting me kidnapped by Alpha...and then you caught me...Wedge me." A hand came up to her head, as if she were attempting to steady herself. "I remember alot of things, things I don't think I knew at the time....and other things, things I don't think I ever learned...."

He suddenly felt as if he doomed her to something that he shouldn't have, all these imprints on top of her actual memories and personality. All he could to do help, was explain.

"They've put you...Back with you...But they also added the skill sets from your other imprints...Adelle wants us to go after Alpha. She thinks this is the only way you can stop him, if you're like him. I asked that you be the primary personailty in control. "

She nodded at the new information, an almost solemnly. Then she placed her hands on the armrests, using them as leverage to find her way out of the chair. He had half expected her to be grateful, to be glad, anything beyond the blank gaze that filled her eyes.

"Then we stop him." Her eyes lifted upwards, till they found his. He felt he could feel words she had left off the sentence. "Then we stop them." He only hopped he was reading her correctly.


End file.
